A Long WalkMay 12, 2005This part of an interview with Yassir Kori relates his flight from Sudan that finally brought him to safety in the United States. Kori walked across Sudan and Ethiopia for over a month, working along the way to finance his trip as he tried to escape from a government that wanted to kill him.

I
was 15. I like to help my people by any means, so that their voice can be heard
by any means it s my duty to enhance this awareness so that people can do as
they want in my society. One day we were working with housing authorities called
the Ministry of Urban Housing Authority. We had a couple cases of civilians
whose houses were being destroyed by the government authorities and these
houses, they did not destroy them equally, some houses they had been just
selecting, the Muslim people were left there and the Christian people, their
homes were destroyed.

And
we protested, why is this happening? We are all citizens of the same land, all
citizens of the same tribe and same country, but different religions. If it is
like that, we have to raise this voice for our international community to be
aware that it is religious discrimination. And we won t allow that to happen in
our society. As a result of this, we always took cases for these people whose
houses were marked with a cross sign and taken out. Those people would give us
the case with the names and we take these names into the Ministry of Urban
Housing Authority to ask why these people are on the list to lose their houses
and why others are not.

They don t try to respond to us quickly, they take a
long time to respond to us. So one day, we had been given warning in the morning
that one cross-marked house would be destroyed. We encouraged them, don t take
any property until we have clarification why this is happening to us. But in the
morning, on the day that it was issued, big trucks came in and bulldozers came
and broke the houses, all the houses with a cross sign. There were some people
inside, some kids inside the house and all the civilians came out and took
stones and threw them at the police and the people who wrecked the houses. The
police were angry about what was happening there and they shot people with guns.
How many of them were killed? Like 13 of them killed, and 20-something
wounded.

So
we took this case and made a campaign with one hundred people and went to our
congress, which was called the Transitional National Assembly, and submitted our
case that there were some civilians shot by the government for no reason,
because of the houses. The (authorities) there said, Who shot these people? Was
it the government? We are a part of the government, we don t have to respond to
you right now, there is no way to respond to that. So the civilians were so
angry they said, Let us look to other, higher authorities. If the government
doesn t want to listen to us there are higher authorities. So I told them I know
many places, let us go.

So
I lead like eight people. The others returned back to their town, and I lead
eight people to different international agencies such as the American Embassy,
the Russian Embassy, and U.N. High Commission of Refugees. The last place that
we stopped was the American Embassy. The American Embassy people asked me what
is going on, who is leading this group? I told them it was me who is leading
them and later explained what happened there and they wanted to interview me for
more detail. So they took me upstairs and the other civilians were asked to
leave the embassy and I remained there for more questioning. They asked me if I
would be interested to go with them and show them the place where the incident
happened. I said yes, I will go.

They took cameras and everything. In the evening hours
we went there and did a report of that place and what happened. After a couple
hours a release was issued by the U.S. Department of State condemning what s
going on there and the news was spread all over the world in the media. Everyone
was talking about what was happening there.

Those people who returned back to (their homes), they
were happy to say it was me, and they were announcing and so on, and the
government heard that it was me who did so, and I was being looked for by
security. At the same time, God told me something: Don t sleep in your house
tonight, there is something that is going to happen. The next morning, my mother
told me that some people came at 1 a.m. and looked for me. You cannot come back
here, she said. Otherwise, you are going to be killed somewhere.

So
I had to sleep from church to church. Finally I went back to the embassy and
told them what happened, and they gave me a recommendation to go to
Egypt so that I could speak to the
High Commission on Refugees to start the process to go out. And they gave me
some money to go out, which was good. I immediately gave some people in the
government money, I gave them that money to get a passport quickly. The people
there, you give them money, whether you are legal or illegal, they will issue
anything to you. I gave them money that I got from the U.S. Embassy, and they
got my passport and my visa to go to Egypt. I went through Port Sudan, in the Red
Sea.

I
went there with a lot of people. When we arrived, eight people who were young
like us, boys, were taken aside and the adults were allowed to go. The decision
was made that (we eight) had to turn back and were not allowed in. So I came
from Khartoum
because of the persecution there I was not able to turn back, there was no way,
but I was forced to go back there. I took the same ship back to Port Sudan. From there I
was not able to go to Khartoum, of course, so I had to just take a
small transport to Kassala. I tried to go to Asamara,

I
made some arrangements, but in order to go to hasamala, the government has to
take your passport and keep it, and then they will allow you to go and you can
come back and take your passport. But I could not leave my passport there. So I
said, I cannot leave my passport here otherwise I will go back to Khartoum. So they said,
yes, you can go back to Khartoum and make it official and get a visa
there. I said no, give me my passport back. When I got my passport I just
started walking, because I had to walk somewhere. So I crossed that places
walking through the city called Ghadarif, I walked across the border with the
purpose of looking for a job. When someone asked me where are you going? I
answered I am going to look for a job.

So
I started walking. Every three days I had to walk all day until the sun went
down. When I got tired, I had to see the nearest field and ask if I could work
there, a couple days or whatever hard work. I had to work like three days to
earn some money and then I would ask, Where is Ethiopia? And he
would tell me, Those mountains are in Ethiopia. You can make it. It took me
21 days to reach that last point, to go to Ethiopia. I
walked all the way through Sudan, through the fields, the
agricultural fields. They were growing grain and different kinds of agriculture
crops.

I
reached the last point there, at the border, and some people told me if you
cross there the security will find you, so wait until night, then you can cross.
So I waited until night, then I crossed the (Ethiopian) border and entered into
that village. With a truck, it took me one day to get to the capital city. I
went there to the American Embassy and I gave them the recommendation and told
them I wasn t allowed to go into Egypt at the border there. So I gave
them what happened, explained everything with the recommendation letter and
everything.

So
they gave me a choice. We can do the process in this embassy, but the people who
are responsible for that, the immigration people, they are going from country to
country doing refugee cases so if you want to wait for six months, they will
come back here. Otherwise, if you have sufficient funds we can make a visa for
you to go to the U.S. and then you apply for political
asylum. Do this paperwork and we will do everything for you. So, I had to think
about it. I stayed there one week and something thinking, how can I do this? Or
is it better for me to go where the immigration people are, which was in
Nairobi, Kenya.

Again I started walking, and I didn t know where to go.
So that time I didn t walk much, only a couple days, three days, then I found
another truck someone showed me. I paid the driver and he took me to the last
city (on the border with Kenya). I had to wait until night
again for somebody to lead me to cross the boarder. That person also knew people
on the other side and knew people on this side. Those who don t have visas, you
just have to pay a certain amount of money, then you can cross the boarder. I
paid again. All my money was finished that time. I paid a certain amount and he
led me at night across the boarder and there was a driver to take me to the
capital city Nairobi.

I
had to go to the Embassy again, same thing again, and show the letter of
recommendation. Very good, everything is well organized. I went to the refugee
camp and showed them what happened, and immediately they set up the process to
come to the United
States. And this is how far I came.

Now
whenever I go anywhere I pray to God to open the doors and the way for me so
that I can pass safely. I was always encouraged by the verses in the Bible that
say The Lord is my shepherd, I will never be afraid of anything. Even if I go
through the deepest darkness, I will not be afraid because you are with
me.